None of us wants to think of becoming incapacitated and needing long term care. But it happens. If you are part of a married couple, you have a 70 percent chance of one of you needing long term care. If you are single, you stand a 40 percent chance. These percentages are bound to increase as baby boomers begin to age.

Long term care insurance can give you a peace of mind. Like health insurance, long term care insurance works to pay benefits to long term care facilities. They will cover what Medicare and other insurance will not and allow you to retain your savings.

Most of us do not plan for long term care and by the time we need it, it is too late. We cannot count on our children being able to care for us. With so many people living well into their 80s and 90s, it is very likely that the "children" who are to care for them are of retirement age themselves. This can be too much of a burden for an older person to take, no matter how much they want to help.

As you have worked and saved all of your life, you probably want to be able to leave something to your children when you pass on. You do not want to end the last of your days on public aid, in a long term care facility that is too far away for your children to visit. But that is what happens to people all of the time.

The way that long term care works is that you have to sign over all of your assets when you enter with an irreversible condition. When they are used up, you then go on public aid. There is no guarantee that the nursing facility will keep you once you are a ward of the state. They can then transfer you to another facility that may be much further away.

You cannot count on Medicare to pay for your care. They will pay a fraction of what it will cost to take care of you. And do you really want your children or loved ones emptying their bank accounts to pay for your care?

If you plan ahead and get a long term care health insurance policy, you can be covered. These policies will pay $150 a day for your care for a four year period. You can use the money when and if you need it. You can also get an inflation clause in your policy so that the $150 that is good for today will cover what it costs 20 years from now.

The amount you will have to pay for a long term care insurance policy will depend upon certain conditions such as your age and general state of health. But planning ahead for this kind of care is essential if you want peace of mind and do not want to have to worry about becoming a burden on your loved ones as you get older.